FISHERY INDUSTRIES OF THE UNITED STATES, 1923 



209 



COMPARISON WITH PREVIOUS STATISTICS 



The literature does not provide many references from which to 

 draw material for the comparison of the present industry with that 

 of past years. A canvass of interior waters for 1894^ provides mate- 

 rial on the Mississippi River and tributaries, but the published com- 

 pilations are so arranged as to make it impossible to clearly separate 

 the statistics of this river system from those of other interior waters 

 The separation was attempted, however, and it is believed that the 

 resulting figures, though not strictly comparable, give at least an 

 approximately correct summary of the production in 1894. For the 

 year 1899 there is a canvass of the Mississippi River and tributaries,* 

 which is believed to be entirely comparable to the 1922 canvass, as 

 is also the canvass for 1903. The latter has been published only as 

 a summary in Bureau of Fisheries Statistical Bulletin No. 175. 

 Figures for 1908 were the result of a canvass of fisheries made by the 

 Bureau of the Census in cooperation with the Bureau of Fisheries.^ 

 The scheme of collection and compilations differed somewhat from 

 the other canvasses, and therefore may be only approximately 

 comparable to the 1922 figures. 



The following table shows the yield of the fisheries by species. 

 As pointed out above, the figures for 1899, 1903, and 1922 are prob- 

 ably strictly comparable; the ofhers are only approximately so. 



Products of the fisheries of the Mississippi River and tributaries for various years, 



1894 to 1922 



Products 



Fishes: 



Bass, black 



Bass, rock, yeUow and white 



Bowfin 



Buffalofish 



Carp 



Catfish and bullheads 



Crappie 



Drum, fresh-water, or sheepshead. 



Eels _ 



Mooneye, or toothed herring 



Paddlefish, or spoonbill eat 



Pike and pickerel 



Pike perch, wall-eyed and sauger. 



Quillback.... 



Sturgeon, lake and shovelnose 



Suckers 



Sunfish 



Yellow perch 



Other fish 



Total. 



Miscellaneous: 



Caviar __ 



Shrimp, fresh-watsr. 



Crawfish 



Frees 



Turtlp" and terrapin. 



Alligator hides 



Other hidrs 



Mussel shells 



1894 



Pounds 



754,219 



510, 763 



173, 330 



15,924,810 



1.294,843 



9, 689, 034 

 814,859 



4, 478, 620 

 133, 223 

 60, 021 



1, 028, 445 

 354, 063 

 910, 075 



1,015,009 



2, 178, 608 



445,119 



177, 909 



37, 005 



39, 979, 955 



90, 562 



fi 700 



237, 7l8 



360, 704 



1 25. 397 



1850 



I 195, 500 



Pounds 



948, 184 



278, 457 



811,000 



14,215,975 



11,868,840 



7, 648, 179 



1,318,832 



3,149,232 



93, 905 



17, 366 



2, 473, 250 



216,952 



249, 435 



945, 838 



2, 243, 934 



910, 963 



65, 006 



193, 750 



Pounds 



431, 170 



104, 557 



1, 105, 250 



11,491,663 



12, 270, 346 



5,191,850 



1,118,770 



2, 748, 743 



74, 210 



8,850 



1,421,086 



707, 093 



398, 668 



941,497 



1, 109, 276 



1, 221, 752 



73, 447 



84,011 



47,649,098 i 40,502,2.39 



70.700 

 £00, 058 



440, 996 



782, 015 



4,950 



1,620 



47, 648, 000 



11,171 

 190, 884 



336. 049 

 477, 370 



16 

 51,856,430 



1908 



Pounds 



1, 459, 000 



83, 000 



1,449,000 



15, 040, 000 



30, 670, 000 



8, 073, 000 



2, 563, 000 



4, 737, 000 



61,000 



1, 439, 000 

 367, 000 

 133, 000 



845, 000 



892, 000 



2, 821, 000 



36,000 



70, 900 



70, 738. 900 



25, 000 

 306, 000 

 9,400 

 193,000 

 713, 000 



32,600 

 76, 266, 000 



1922 



Pxyunds 

 73, 554 



74, 862 



190, 073 



15,488,765 



18, 3t8, 371 



6, 2 3, 025 



512,423 



4, 539, 165 



16,060 



3, 450 



1,398.991 



20, 100 



29, 395 



765, 389 



238, 318 



699, 639 



374, 533 



22, 250 



7-^, 275 



49, 121. 5:^8 



14,727 

 147,482 

 625 

 14,849 

 83, 876 

 3,244 



51, 768, 173 



' Represents the number of hides instead of weight of hides. 



Note. — The above figures do not include the statistics for the Atchafalaya River. 



' Hugh M .Smith, Statistics of the Fisheries of the Interior Waters of the United States. Appendix 11 

 to the Report of the Commissioner for the year ended June 30, 1890 (1898). 



* C. H. Townsend. Statistics of the Mississippi River and Tributaries. Appendix 15 to Report of the 

 Comn.issioner of Fisheries for 1901 (1902). 



' Fisheries of the United States, 1908. Special Report of the Bureau of the Census, 1911. 



